The Women's Studies Program at Syracuse University invites proposals for papersto be presented at a national conference on the contested and complexrelationship between feminism and war. The focus will be on recent U.S.government initiatives that claim war in the name of women's liberation, butwith a global and transnational context in which other military actions might beconsidered. We look forward to energetic dialogue frominterdisciplinaryperspectives on these sub-themes:

Women's Liberation and U.S. Foreign PolicyU.S. War and Women in Iraq and AfghanistanWar and Women in and of the U.SThe War and Organizing for Women's Liberation

We hope to examine questions such as: What are the multiple interpretations ofthe phrase "women's liberation"? How are these multiple interpretations relatedto the specifics of religion, culture, history, nation within the current U.S.wars? What, in fact, is assumed about the category "woman" in the context ofthese conceptual and actual locations at this moment in time? What differentphilosophical concepts of "freedom for women" might be implicit in the currentdebate raised by the conduct of U.S. wars? What different histories--national,gendered, religious--intersect within this debate about women and freedom? Whatare the liberating and limiting aspects of religion in relation to women inthese debates? How does the struggle over definitions of women's freedommanifest itself in cultural creations, artifacts, and productions? Have women inIraq and Afghanistan been liberated by the recent Gulf War? A special invitationis extended to activists to submit proposals, to increase dialogue betweentheoretical analysis and grounded experience. The conference schedule willinclude plenary sessions, paper presentations, discussion groups, and culturalevents.

The Conference Organizing Committee includes Chandra Talpade Mohanty, MinnieBruce Pratt, Linda Martín Alcoff, Gwen Pough, and Vivian May. We will considerproposals for single papers or panels. Please send a one page abstract for eachpaper, or send a one page description of each panel proposal with one pageabstracts for each paper in the panel to the committee at the address below.